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February 14, 2013

How to Make an iPad Case (or any other case for any other device really)

Not long ago my husband was given a gift through his business. It was an iPad mini, but he already had an iPad that he uses for his business. That was a complete score for me (evil laugh) because it became mine and I never thought I'd have an iPad. I've brought it with me places, but without a case I don't feel comfortable letting it sit in the black hole that my purse is. So, I made a case for it.

It's not a hard project. You just need some scrap leather and a sewing machine and you can whip one out pretty quickly. Here's how I made it.

I purchased a big piece of leather a couple of years ago and I'm still using it on projects. It's lasted forever. I also pulled out a tiny piece I had of brown leather. The leather I used here is pretty thick, stiff stuff. (You could also use felt with this tutorial, since it doesn't fray.)

Time out for a real life shot. Can you tell my boys like the iPad even more than I do? Good thing I love them. Eeewwww.

So I started by cutting a long strip of leather about an inch wider than my iPad and double the length of it. (If you don't have a piece of leather that long you could turn your device the other way and use a wider piece that's not as long.)

I made sure it would cover it entirely once sewn up the sides.

I also cut a small rectangle from the other color to be the closure strap.

I cut a small rounded piece out on the front and back to make it easy to pull out the iPad.

I sewed around the three edges of the strap, attaching velcro at the end and then sewed the edge of the last side to the backside of the case.

I kept putting the iPad in it to test it out and get it to fit just right. I figured out where the matching velcro should go so that the iPad would be strapped in tightly. Once everything looked right I sewed across the top (individually on each piece) just for looks and then I sewed up the sides.

I used black thread and I wasn't crazy about how it looked so I decided to paint the edges of the leather with some Martha Stewart paint. That paint works on any surface and it's actually really awesome stuff.

11 comments:

Great project and good call on painting the edges! Love that button too. Ooooh, I have some button making kits I bought a while ago that you just reminded me about. Might just have to do that today now! (btw, any electronic of mine looks just like that with the sticky finger marks - gross)

This looks great! You may have already done this before, but could you maybe do a covered button tutorial? I guess you might have used a button you had on hand, too, but I've always been curious about how to cover buttons and make it look professional. :)

I loved this when I first read it and knew that this was what I wanted to do for my Kindle! I finally got around to making my version of it, and I posted it on my blog, of course directing everyone back here to you!

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